Asia Strengthens, AI Ignites Rally
Asian stocks opened higher, following Wall Street's rally fueled by AI-fueled euphoria. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% and the Nasdaq 100 rose 1.2%. Japan and Australia led gains, while China's ADR rose 0.9% ahead of the mainland market's reopening after Golden Week. The yen was nearly flat after hitting its weakest level since February, fueling speculation of intervention.
In commodities, gold fell slightly but remained above $4,000/oz due to profit-taking and easing safe-haven demand following signals of a Gaza peace plan. Oil also weakened amid focus on peace and US inventory data. US stock futures rose about 0.1%. On the sentiment front, Nvidia led the mega-caps after CEO Jensen Huang called demand for its Blackwell chips "very, very" strong; however, the earnings season will test already elevated valuations.
Regional focus is on China: AI enthusiasm clashes with cautious consumption signals—road travel is replacing flights and cinema sales are disappointing. The CSI 300 has risen for five consecutive months through September (+18% YTD), led by chip stocks (DeepSeek, Huawei's plan to double AI chip production). From a policy perspective, the Fed minutes indicated a readiness to cut interest rates further, but remain data-dependent due to inflation, while the dollar index strengthened to its highest level since August.
Key points
Asia rose following the AI rally on Wall Street; Japan and Australia led.
Gold and oil corrected slightly; gold remains above $4,000/oz.
Nvidia strengthens; earnings season will test AI euphoria.
China reopens: AI hype vs. still-weak consumption.
Fed leaning toward further cuts, but remains data-dependent; dollar strengthens. (az)
Source: Newsmaker.id
